Cultural Hybridity?

When we talked about the origins of hip-hop in class this week, I couldn’t help but consider the subcultures and various other facets that the movement brought with it. Or that it seemed to bring with it. Some of the connections the term “hip-hop” carries along with it are “gangsta rap” and “thug culture” (pictured below). These subcultures are grouped together with hip-hop, but we should be able to see that they carry completely different messages than the original messages of political change that hip-hop strived to bring attention to. In this picture, we notice that “thug culture” is visually represented by hip-hop artists, guns, murder, arrests, and the Chuckey doll, most of which are quite violent and seem to be validating breaking the law and getting violent with others. I’m not sure why the Chuckey doll is included…connection to white culture trying to merge into the stereotypically black culture of “thug culture”?

The desire of white folk to be included into primarily black cultures or identify with black origins, is further supplemented via the surge of “hip-hop” dancing coming into white suburbs. This effort for a sort of racial/cultural hybridity is probably one of the most fascinating ones. Thousands of white girls nationwide can opt to take classes at the local dance studio or rec center that allow them to partake in what seems like an echo of an important cultural movement through dance (that has been modified substantially since it was developed and spread through hip-hop). The authenticity of hip-hop is lost, not spread, through these dance classes; they counteract the meaning of the movement. But, alas, we are searching for inclusion into and understanding of all cultures, and I guess the best way we can understand is through interpretation and art, and that includes dance.